Archive for the ‘DPP4 enzyme deficiency’ Category

A Note from Madonna:
Great article from Metagenics on Soy…

I’m in the unique position to have been doing kinesiology for over 20 years… I always joke I’m lucky to have done my naturopathy first as kinesiology was so much fun.
I’ve got a 15 step process to find allergies/intolerances/substance issues with people:

we have Nutripath food testing to find if people have allergies to substances

we use the Food Detective blood test in-house to find if people have intolerances

I’ve found generally over the years that organic soy is fine! (Generally, of course!)

Georgia and Madonna use kinesiology to target specific substances and see if your body is able to utilise them…

if dairy is an issue, is it the casein, the lactose, a DPP4 enzyme deficiency, lectins, hormones? Is Organic OK?

if grains are an issues, is it a FODMAP problem, lectins, gluten, gliadins, DPP4 enzyme deficiency, pesticides, GMO? Is Organic OK?

The world we live in is a melting pot of mixed cultures which has resulted in the spread of many ingredients and cuisines. One such example is the soybean, finding its way onto the plates of many individuals, and offering a blend of protein, fibre, fats and phytonutrients (e.g. isoflavones). Despite a long traditional use in Asia and the scientifically proven benefits of soy consumption, vocal soy critics have cast concern over this eminent legume, confusing many people about whether soy is safe or not. Whilst some objections against soy for reasons such as overt allergy are well-founded, anti-soy arguments based on misinterpreted data have tainted the perceived safety of soy; leaving many individuals hesitant on whether to enjoy or avoid it. However, research offers remedies to several soy myths, enabling them to be busted – read on for details:

Myth #1: Soy is a goitrogen.

Fact: Goitrogens are substances that disrupt the production of thyroid hormone by interfering with the uptake of iodine into the thyroid gland. Soy has previously been classified as a goitrogen; however, this was based primarily on observations yielded from in vitro and animal studies,1 which in this instance offer limited relevance to humans due to differing metabolism between human and animals with regards to soy.2 That said, in situations of inadequate dietary iodine intakes, thyroid symptoms caused by this lack may be amplified by simultaneously high intakes of soy.3 Nevertheless, a comprehensive review of 14 human clinical studies provided little evidence that soy exerts anti-thyroid effects in healthy subjects,4 which is further supported by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).5

Fact: In the past decade, there has been a surge in the production of genetically modified (GM) crops, with soy representing one of those most commonly affected. Genetically modified organisms (GMO) are those whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques designed to produce specific traits. It is true that without sufficient data we can’t predict the effects of modified proteins, so selecting non-GMO soy products avoids unknown risks. As such, non-GMO sources of soy are available, and consuming it in this natural and unadulterated wholefood form is always advised for maximal health benefits.

The Humble Soybean Manifests in Many Dietary Ways.

Myth #3: You should only eat soy if it’s fermented.

Fact: In early China, soy was traditionally cooked like a grain. Processing of this legume then evolved across different regions of Asia to become a variety of modes like those illustrated in Figure 1. This included fermenting (to create tempeh, miso and natto), sprouting, grinding to make a ‘milk,’ and the pressing of unfermented bean curd to create tofu. Fermentation is especially favored in Korea and Japan for producing strong flavours, however doing so is not the golden rule for soy consumption. Similar to other legumes, simply softening soybeans with moisture and heat (e.g. boiling) causes the hardy components within the bean to denature. This allows the nutrients to then become bioavailable and absorbable, and therefore allow us to attain the benefits from consuming them.

In summary, soy has not always traditionally been fermented, and it is perfectly safe and appropriate to consume it in its unfermented form.

Myth #4: Soy is a phytoestrogen.

Fact: The term phytoestrogen describes the ability of certain compounds (found in foods and medicinal herbs) to act similarly to the actions of the hormone oestrogen. However, incorrect interpretations of the term phytoestrogen have raised some concern.

As it pertains to soy, experts have corrected the term phytoestrogen, defining the bean instead as a selective oestrogen receptor modulator or ‘SERM’.

Being a SERM, soy communicates with the body similarly to oestrogen as it can bind to what’s known as oestrogen ‘receptors’, which then modulates their activity (the ‘output’). For example, soy isoflavones have been shown to down-regulate oestrogen receptor alpha (ER-?) activity. Given that ER-? is associated with negative events such as tumour growth, SERM compounds (like the isoflavones found in soy) are viewed as beneficial, as they can favourably influence the state of play. What’s more, soy isoflavones also bind to the beneficial oestrogen receptor beta (ER- ?), whose activity is associated with protective health benefits in both men and women.9 In summary, a SERM such as soy does not increase oestrogen levels, but balances oestrogen receptor activity, which can lead to more optimal body function.

The Balance of Soy

It’s important to keep in mind that the health benefits of soy, like many wholefoods, are broad. The soybean is much more than just soy isoflavones – it provides additional health-promoting nutrients including protein, fibre, minerals and B vitamins, all nourishing your body in more ways than one. To enjoy some soy as part of a balanced, check out the healthy Tofu and Veggie Stir-Fry recipe below. You too can reap the benefits of this highly versatile legume.

• Heat oil with garlic until garlic is lightly cooked.
• Add cauliflower, tofu and broccoli and stir through very quickly.
• Add water and continue stirring.
• Cook on high heat for approximately four minutes and continue stirring.
• Add a little more water if required to prevent sticking.
• Add chives.
• Turn out and serve.

Embarking on a health journey is a brave move to make. It means looking at the issues you may have avoided for a while and facing them head on. It’s a process that is often scary yet can also be richly rewarding. When you are the best version of yourself you can be, you can really shine and be there for those close to you.

It can be said that it’s a means of coming back to your basic self – seeing your body as a precious temple and paying attention to what you really need. It’s treating yourself gently and gaining a greater connection to the whole of you – body and mind. As one of my favourite authors Sarah Avant Stover puts it – the only way out is in and through. To go through our health issues rather than going around them is the only real way to back to balance and health.

At New Leaf, we are committed to your success in this process. We know it’s yours, to go through in your way. Offering a harmonious range of therapies, we seek to find the real cause of your health issues and guide you back to balance and health.

We see your journey to optimal health as a partnership between yourself and us. Thus, we have a few suggestions for you in order that you get the best results from your treatment with us:

Eat a fresh, wholefoods diet. When you eat fresh, vital food, you feel just that. Everything we eat nourishes our cells. If we consider that the body is really the only vessel we have to take us through this lifetime, it makes sense to nourish it with the best food possible.

Drink a minimum of 2 litres of pure filtered water daily. Besides hydration, there are countless benefits of drinking adequate pure water. Improved energy, detoxification, digestion, skin condition and weight loss are just a few.

Limit caffeine, or better still, cut it altogether. Caffeine creates extra work for your liver, and can place stress on the adrenal glands and nervous system. It also promotes dehydration and in the long term, fatigue. There are many delicious herbal teas and coffee alternatives available in supermarkets and health food stores.

Sleep 8 hours a night. While sleeping as little as possible in modern society is often considered admirable behaviour, the truth is, it promotes premature aging, weight gain, can increase stress and complicate many other health issues. It may require changing your usual routine a little, but getting 8 hours of quality sleep a night is an investment in your health.

Spend a few minutes a day alone, doing some quiet breath awareness in a comfortable seated position. All you need do is focus on your breath with your eyes closed. This can have wonderfully beneficial effects on your nervous system, improving mood, reducing stress and creating calm. A calm body heals well!

Increase body movement. This means different things to different people. Start with where you are at in terms of your current physical fitness, and do what feels right for you. Even if it just means adding incidental exercise by taking the stairs instead of the lift, walking to a colleague’s desk rather than emailing, or taking a short walk before or after work. Start where you are at the moment and build gently from there.

These are simple steps you can take today to improve your body’s ability to balance and heal. You can do one at a time, a few, or all of them, whatever feels right and good for you. It’s up to you.

We look forward to supporting you in achieving a state of greater health.

Energetically – who knows the cause of sickness? Where does internal pain, issues with our major organs such as the liver and kidneys, the stomach, small intestines, large intestines come from? Naturopathically, it has always been taught that step one for any long-term health problem has been to cleanse the body’s filters – the digestive tract, the liver, the immune system/lymphatic systems and the kidneys. Congestion in any of these areas can cause poor energy, poor circulation and poor detoxification of any of these systems.

In Chinese medicine it has always been taught that blocked energy starts this toxicity building up – Chi Nei Tsang helps with both – it starts to move the inflammation, the toxicity and the energy blockages that are stopping blood, lymphatic flow and nutrient absorption throughout our major organs.

Have you ever felt ‘knots’ in your stomach, tightness under the ribs, described this to your therapist who simply prescribed antacids or digestive enzymes? These is so much more to health than that…and the last thing you want is to suppress symptoms which may come back to haunt you down the track.

Our Foundations of Health programme is a nine month detoxification process which starts the body healing as our filters start to clear. It is a long process (quick and dirty detoxes rarely make lasting change) to health for some people.

“The Taoist sages of ancient China observed that humans often develop energy blockages in their internal organs that result in knots and tangles in their abdomens. These obstructions occur at the center of the body’s vital functions and constrict the flow of Chi (energy), our life-force. The negative emotions of fear, anger, anxiety, depression, and worry cause the most damage. Problems can also be caused by overwork, stress, accidents, surgery, drugs, toxins, poor food, and bad posture.

Through meditative practices the sages learned to look within themselves. They discovered the internal organs connect with the Five Forces of the Universe and provide a link between the human microcosm and the universal macrocosm. The organs contain the essences of the spiritual force of a human being. They also provide the physical lines of force that hold the body together and give it structure.

When obstructed the internal organs store unhealthy energies that can overflow into other bodily systems and surface as negative emotions and sickness. Always in search of an outlet, these negative emotions and toxic energies create a perpetual cycle of negativity and stress. (Fig. 1) If the negative emotions can’t find an outlet, they fester in the organs or move into the abdomen, the body’s “garbage dump.” The abdomen can process some emotional garbage, but more often it can’t keep up with the flow. The energetic center of the body located at the navel becomes congested and cut off from the rest of the body.

Fig. 1 Negative energy cycle leads to knots and tangles in the abdomen.

B. Chi Nei Tsang: A Method to Clear Blocked Energy

Chi, the life-force energy, moves through the body’s internal channels, nervous system, blood vessels, and lymph glands. These systems concentrate and cross paths in the abdomen which acts as their control center. Tensions, worries, and stresses of the day, month, or year accumulate there and are seldom dispersed. ‘These disturbances can cause physical tangling and knotting of the nerves, blood vessels, and lymph nodes. The result is the gradual obstruction of energy circulation.

The ancient Taoists realized that negative emotions cause serious damage to one’s health, impairing both physical and spiritual functions. They understood that each human emotion is an expression of energy and that certain emotions could indicate the negative energy behind many physical ailments. They also identified a specific cycle of relationships between the emotions and the organs. For example, the experience of a “knot” in one’s stomach indicated the presence of worry, the negative emotion that accumulates in the stomach and spleen.
The Taoists discovered that most maladies could be healed once the underlying toxins and negative forces were released from the body. They developed the art of Chi Nei Tsang to recycle and transform negative energies that obstruct the internal organs and cause knots in the abdomen. Chi Nei Tsang clears out the toxins, bad emotions, and excessive heat or heat deficiencies-that cause the organs to dysfunction. (Fig. 2)

We complement Chi Nei Tsang with all of the other services we provide in our clinic, in Wynnum Brisbane.

We know that Chi Nei Tsang is very energizing, strengthening, and detoxifying the internal organ systems of our body. It supports the removal of negative influences and is fantastic for intestinal blockages, cramps, knots, lumps, scarring, headaces, menstrual cramps, poor blood circulation, back pain, infertility, impotence and many other issues.

Children’s health is anything but simple these days. A mothers instinct often tells us one thing, but then we are told the opposite…

Following doctors and societies instructions – having anti-biotics, vaccinations, breast feeding whilst on anti-depressants or other medications, giving medications such as Ritalin and dex-amphetamines, using drugs such as steroids daily… All with our vague knowledge of the side-effects but being told everything’s going to be okay.

We have many years experience in working with children’s health problems successfully. Take a look around you, and it seems like every second family has a child with some major health problem going on…

Phew!! What a list! Honestly, we are happy to support any child’s health and vitality with any child with any condition. With our combination of experience and expertise we can put together a programme to suit your child and help health and happiness come as quickly as possible.

We use a combination of techniques that help us to help your child:

NOT Neural organisational technique: this is a process that helps reorganise the neurology of your child, head to toe.

LEAP Learning enhancement acupressure programme: this is a specific programme for the brain – which targets areas of the brain and helps them to function more easily…

Allergy Assessments: we use diagnostic tools which help to improve immunity and reduce inflammatory reactions to substances causing symptoms in the body such as hayfever and sinusitis, ADHD, eczema and dermatitis, tummy upsets and chronic exhaustion

Naturopathic supplements that help to boost the bodys nutritional status and heal faster

Auto-Immune conditions such as lupus require balance throughout life. Medically the options are limited: harsh medications that don’t actually fix the underlying causes (and clog up the major organs of the body so they’re are more dysfunctional), but there is SO MUCH WE CAN DO to help to balance the body and keep the symptoms as minimal as possible.

1. Look after your gut: 70-80% of the immune system is in the gut – Lupus/Auto-immune conditions occur when the immune system is overstimulated into attacking certain tissues of the body. In other words, the body can think that your skin, or your thyroid, or your ligaments and tendons are a virus or bacteria and then the immune system works hard to kill it!! That’s why we feel so dreadful when an auto-immune system is in full swing.

Keys to looking after your gut:

Know your allergies/intolerances
Find out if you have DPP4 enzyme deficiencies
Are you gut enzymes working to break down sugars, carbohydrates, proteins and fats?
Is your pancreas balancing your blood sugar on a daily basis?
Has your body dealt with old viruses and viral particles?
Do you have leaky gut/gut permeability?
Is there heavy metal toxicity in the gut, that is shutting down the enzyme release from the gut?
Vitamin D deficiency is one cause of leaky gut – getting some sunshine daily?

2. Decrease stress in your world: what are your major stress triggers? Stress is one of the intangible causes of auto-immune conditions. Stress can shut down your gut, overload your liver, make it really challenging to balance your blood sugar, increase your adrenal stress and shut down your thyroid and so much more. Stress is huge and finding a way to deal with it daily it crucial with chronic health conditions such as auto-immunity! Try the following:

Yoga and meditation
Kinesiology balancing to help eliminate old stress patterns and boost immunity
Relaxing Massage has been found to increase feel good hormones and lower pain levels
There are supplements that can be prescribed that help to destress the nerves, balance the hormones, boost feel-good hormones and more
Sleep – a good night sleep is so important to maintain good health, immunity and wellbeing

3. Full Filter Detox: It is so important to keep your body’s filtering mechanisms as functional as possible throughout life. The immune system is one of the filters – for the body to kick an auto-immune system into action, our filters can’t have been working properly… The core filters of the body are the digestive tract (stomach, small intestine, large intestine), liver, immune system (crucial in cleansing the blood every second of every day) and the kidneys. If these are dysfunctional it’s not hard to imagine our body will be filling up with toxins and our immune system will struggle!

Testing Processes we can do to keep on top of our health:Live Blood Screenings: with this fabulous technique we are looking at red and white blood cells – your red blood cells make up 1/4 of all the cells in your body – we can see instantly immune dysfunction, liver stress (fibrinogen), signs of leaky gut, signs of parasites and more… Just 1 drop of blood.Urine Tests: Multisticks and Urinary Indicans – these urine tests allow us to find out if we are digesting our proteins, if we have an underlying infection, if our kidneys are fully functional or struggling, if we have too much bad bacteria in the gut and more… Simple.Candida and Helicobacter Tests: are there underlying issues such as these causing problems that we don’t even know about?Kinesiology for allergies/intolerances/energy mismatches/DPP4 enzyme deficiencies – find out what foods should be in your world and what shouldn’t. There are so many intolerances where the only symptom is the auto-immune condition itself. We can help you target your diet to be the best it can be.Insulin Resistance Testing: we are one of the few places who test for insulin resistance. Doctors check for blood sugar and don’t even think about diabetes until it’s through the roof. This test finds pre-diabetic conditions early, and then we know how to fix it!

Are you sick of people telling your kids are lazy? Not paying attention? Not focussed? And you know something’s going on with them?

Is your child stressed about going to school, feeling picked on or stupid?

There is help available – and NOT drugs or years of counselling… we are specialists in this area and have many many years of experience…

We do a combination of treatments in our clinic that can help your children: NOT (Neural Organisational Technique); LEAP (Learning Enhancment Acupressure Programme) and FSM (Frequency Specific Microcurrent) which can help to determine and correct, what’s going on in the brain of your kids.

What does this mean?

We can FIND and CORRECT:

Issues which have been there since birth: poor oxygen to certain parts of the brain; jammed cranial bones; poor nutritional supply to the brain due to caesarian sections; anesthetics still in the system due to epidurals and anesthetics.

Old Stress Patterns that are Hindering the Ability to Learn: once a child has been repeatedly in trouble for ‘being lazy’, ‘not trying hard enough’, ‘feeling like the class idiot’, their body starts shutting down as soon as they go to do something they’ve failed at in the past.

DPP4 Enzyme Deficiency: means that certain foods may be acting like ‘opioids’ in your childs brain and stopping or hindering brain function, making them tired and stressed and unable to cope or learn.

Sound like you or your children could do with a session!?? We have a Learning Enhancement Programme which will save you lots of $$$ per month if you believe this programme would be good for you or your family.

So… you’ve been told (or suspect) you have a DPP4 enzyme deficiency. The 2 most common food issues with this deficiency are wheat (sometimes gluten) and dairy. In order to get this enzyme working properly (to stop the addictive nature of the food and create a healthier gut and brain connection) it really needs to be cold turkey for the offending food. These are very different from allergies, intolerances and energy-mismatches which can be going on quite separately in your body. It takes at least 3 months for the wheat opioids to be out of the body – and at least 3 weeks for the dairy opioids to be released. Other foods which may create this affect are sugars, processed rice and alcohol. This opioid effect can create ANY BRAIN SYMPTOM that drugs can…

Wheat Alternatives:

I know – cutting out wheat – what a chore! But imagine life where your brain functions better, you have more energy, less pain and your memory is fabulous!

Firstly there are many gluten-free products available these days:

rice crackers

corn crackers

rye – ryvitas etc

many brands of gluten free breads

Obviously there’s the danger of overloading on gluten free goodies – just because it’s gluten free doesn’t mean it’s healthy! Read the packaging and also determine how much sugar, how many carbohydrates there are, expecially if weight or tiredness are an issue.

We’ve been working with information about the DPP4 enzyme issues for kids (and adults) this year with some interesting results. There is an enzyme (DPP4) we release from the intestines, which if it’s not working, foods such as wheat and dairy can create an ‘opioid’ effect in the body.

It is NOT an allergy and will NOT show up in allergy tests. In fact, we find (kinesiologically) that they are totally different things in the body.

Think about anything that happens to people on drugs – slurred speech, hyperactivity, stress, anxiety, paranoia, exhaustion, panic attacks… and that can happen in people with a DPP4 enzyme deficiency. It can also create moodswings such as anger to tears and increase violent tendencies. It can also affect our pain receptors – kids will often injure themselves but not be hurt – that’s the opioid effect.

Because of the opioid effect, it’s a true addiction. We find it in kids with learning problems, autism and aspergers, ADD & ADHD, dyspraxia.

Over a period of time that will exhaust many organs of the body which are trying to deal with this opioid effect on a day by day basis. Using kinesiology we have found this opioid effect happening due to wheat, dairy, soy (occasionally), sugar, wine and rice. Once off the offending foods, it takes around 3 months for the ‘opioid particles’ to leave the body – which gives a great window of opportunity for us to heal the gut, detoxify whatever toxins (heavy metals, bacteria, candida) that are inactivating the enzymes and clean up the bloodstream.

When this DPP4 enzyme deficiency is rampant, the gut bacteria gets totally out of whack – the bacteria can change from good to bad and this bad bacteria can cause lots of issues to, such as bloating, burping, belching, wind, flatulence, diarrhoea, constipation. The bad bacteria can create other issues to, for example, they can convert insoluble heavy metals (the type we can’t absorb into the body) into soluble heavy metals (which we can easily absorb into our fat, brain, bones and muscle).

It’s worth finding out if there’s a DPP4 enzyme deficiency issue creating health issues for you or your family.

Brain Inflammation… sounds awful doesn’t it? Did you know that it’s impossible to have any of ADD, ADHD, Autism, Aspergers, Memory Loss without brain inflammation? It’s an increasing problems these days:

1 in 12 kids have ADD/ADHD

1 in 91 kids have autism/aspergers (this was 1/1000 10 years ago…)

1 in 3-6 kids have allergies (very much linked with ADD/ADHD/Aspergers/Autism)

1 in 2 people over 50 years old will have dementia by 2030

Scary statistics!

But does it feel like there’s nothing that can be done? Medically it’s a matter of give this drug (a calming down drug) in the morning and this drug (another calming down drug) at night… not to mention the side-effects and family stress associated with the problems of these conditions.

There are some things we can do immediately to start the process of reducing the inflammation in the brain! Kinesiology helps us target the correct things for you and your family – not everyone needs every intervention, and that would be exhausting!

Stop wheat, gluten and dairy: many kids have a DPP4 enzyme deficiency which creates an ‘opioid’ effect in the bloodstream which can literally make them act like they’re on drugs! Hyperactivity, tantrums, exhaustion, brain-dead…

Colourings, preservatives and flavourings: these overload metallothioneine pathways in the liver, the ‘particles’ create the inflammation in the brain, and cause hyperactivity and extreme anger symptoms in susceptible bodies…

Salicylate Sensitivity: often in kids with nasal allergies, red rashes. Salicylates are an aspirin-like substance that thin the blood (the liver, the skin, the gut – in susceptible people) and can cause huge problems where there’s an issue.

Sugars, fructose, glucose issues: many kids don’t have an ability to break down sugars properly. Kids foods are soooooo linked with sugars these days, all the pre-packaged spreads and biscuis, tiny teddies, fruit juices, cereals, muffins… If there is ‘insulin resistance’ the body is not getting the sugar into the cells, insulin is floating around outside the cells – yep, creating more inflammation!

Auto-Immune Components: Through live blood screenings and kinesiology we can find out if there’s the possibility of an auto-immune condition affecting the brain. Current thinking with Autism (particularly) is that an old staph/strep infection is affecting the basal ganglia in the brain, directly affecting moods, behaviour and how we interact with our world around us.

Heavy Metal toxicity: Lead, mercury, cadmium and aluminium (regularly in medications we give our children such as vaccines) are very well documented to be a link in ADD, ADHD (lead particularly), Autism (aluminium and mercury particularly), Aspergers and Allergies

LEAP Kinesiology: is a specific process done at New Leaf Natural Therapies that re-integrates the pathways of the brain. The more toxic the brain is (the more inflammation, insulin, opioid-like-substances, sugars, flavourings, colourings, preservatives) the more likely our brain pathways won’t be functioning properly. See if any of these problems sound familar for someone you love!

Amygdala stress: the amygdala is a part of the brain that is activated when we’re under stress. IF we’re stressing, and we don’t get our logical and creative thought processes finding a solution quickly enough, we whip into an old ‘amygdala’ pattern. (This is the same pattern that people with PTSD and Vietnam Vets know all about) The amygdala holds patterns of:

fight and flight (these can be fully activated or have exhaustion)

pain and punishment circuits (kids who are constantly in trouble are easily ‘labelled’ and therefore their brains and always expecting the worst. This doesn’t help behaviour in any circumstance where there’s always a pattern in place

escape, submission, freeze: some kids brains just ‘switch off’, they look like they’re ‘not paying attention’ but their brains are just overloaded and they can’t take anymore

rage, anger, frustration (need I say more?!?)

pleasure and reward centres – switched off! this creates depression, anxiety, panic attacks, lack of enjoyment with day to day activities

Our Learning Enhancement Programme has been put together to get the best results and to save you $$$. Ask about our 9 month programme (standard length of time for ‘normal’ learning and behavioural issues). More complicated health problems take longer to resolve – but we’ll see how we’re going as we go through the sessions.